Mamelodi Sundowns head coach has provided an update on Lucas Ribeiro Costa while ruling out three players due to injury from the MTN8 final.
Costa suffered an injury in the first half of their last game as they beat Bumamuru 2-0 in their second-leg CAF Champions League preliminary qualifier.
After the game, Mokwena stated they would need to monitor and assess the situation further to clarify the extent of his injury ahead of the Orlando Pirates showdown.
And while he’s not been completely ruled out, despite not being present at training this morning – the likes of Sipho Mbule, who was pictured in a moon boot is definitely unavailable.
“There’s a lot of work being done by the medical team and the rehab guys… which is very good from a sports science perspective,” Mokwena said.
“We only have serious injuries to Sipho Mbule, Thapelo Morena, Thapelo Maseko [is] doubtful, [Bathusi] Aubaas out [Lesiba] Nku is back, Lucas Ribeiro will do a late fitness test, so that is more or less what we have and the rest are okay.
“We have to manage the situation as it is and I’m focused mainly on what is on the training pitch and what is available, it doesn’t help to focus on players not available.”
When pressed about how long they will wait for the ‘late fitness test’ to attempt to add him to their options against the reigning champions – Mokwena said until the very last second.
“[I will wait] until I have to hand in a teamsheet, so that is so late as 90 minutes before kickoff, we will do that for all players, we have done that in the past, and any other players in fact, there’s one or two making it from that injury list and we’ll wait until the last minute to rule them out, it’s an important game, we need everyone.
“We have a very good squad but yeah for sure, we need everyone and Lucas is one of those who is important to us – so we’ll see.
“We’ve been preparing very well, tried to focus a little bit on understanding what personality is needed from us on Saturday, and the players have been responding well, working hard and looking forward to a very good game of football on Saturday.”
The two sides meet for the first domestic cup final of the 2023/24 season at Moses Mabhida Stadium at 18h00 on Saturday.
